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April 13, 2008

I witnessed something truly astonishing on Monday night: a public discussion of black women's experiences of sexual violence at the hands of black men. It was an intergenerational group of black men and women, gay and straight, survivors and perpetrators, all grappling with the legacy of rape and race.

The experience was unusual because black people rarely talk about sisters being raped. We talk about all kinds of things: trivial, critical, humorous, serious, political, painful and frivolous. But as we observe Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, I am reminded that there are things we don't talk about. Continue reading

We are silent about black women as victims and survivors of sexual assault by black men.

2 comments:

I found you through your post on the Clutch website regarding the film. I posted a comment there, but I also wanted to share that comment with your readers. I hope you do not mind:

When I saw this film it really reinforced the global connection African American women have to the rest of the world. I think sometimes we forget OUR place in the world.

Through this film I realized, that on the most basic level we are connected through our own stories of sexual abuse and rape and we should take charge to help each of us (all across the globe) so that our daughters will live a different life.

The men who spoke about their crimes so easily and freely in this film are no different than the men who speak so freely of it right here in our "industrialized" nation.

We need to recognize and react. I long for the day when the chant and the new Hollywood "IN" cause will not be "green", but "pink"!

Here is another site (which I had a hand in building) that speaks to the topic of rape as a tool of war in DRC: www.stoprapeindrc.org.